The legend is that St. Swithin, Bishop of Winchester, who died 862,
desired to be buried in the church—yard of the minster, that
the “sweet rain of heaven might fall upon his grave.” At canonisation
the monks thought to honour the saint by removing his body into the
choir, and fixed July 15th for the ceremony; but it rained day after
day for forty days, so that the monks saw the saints were averse to
their project, and wisely abandoned it. The St. Swithin of Scotland is
St. Martin of Bouillons. The rainy saint in Flanders is St. Godeliéve;
in Germany, the Seven Sleepers.